Valerie Bertinelli Emotionally Lashes out at Trolls Mocking Her Weight

Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli shared a tearful video on Instagram late Thursday after a troll left a comment criticizing her weight. Bertinelli, 61, said she made a “mistake” when she read comments on her posts and said the trolling comments are “not f—ing helpful.” The former Touched by an Angel star’s ex-husband, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, died less than a year ago after a battle with throat cancer at age 65.

At the start of her clip, Bertinelli noted that someone told her she should lose weight in a comment on one of her Instagram posts. “Because see, I don’t have a scale or I don’t have clothes that I’m trying to put on every day, and I don’t have mirrors so I don’t see what’s become of me,” the Valerie’s Home Cooking host said sarcastically. “So I needed that help to let me know that I need to lose weight.”

After taking a deep breath, she directly spoke to the critics, telling them they are not being helpful. “When you see somebody who has put some weight on, my first thought is that this person is obviously going through some things. Because if I could lose the weight and keep it off, I would,” Bertinelli said through tears. “But since I haven’t been successful with that my whole entire life… at 61, I’m still dealing with [it]. You think I’m not tired of it, lady?”

“Where’s the compassion?” she continued. “You think a stupid little comment like ‘You need to lose weight’ … not f—ing helpful.” Bertinelli then turned the camera to her cat, kissing it on the head before the end of the video.

Bertinelli expanded on her comments in the caption and said she had no plans to delete the vulnerable video. “Aren’t we tired of body shaming women yet?! smh,” she wrote. “I was going to delete my stories because it’s a little embarrassing and scary to be so vulnerable. But then I realized it was hitting a ‘good’ nerve with so many of you who were so sweet to dm and share your same vulnerability and struggles. We all could use a little more kindness and patience and grace, because we just never know what someone else is going through.” On Friday, Bertinelli shared a follow-up video to thank her fans for their support.

Bertinelli was married to the late Van Halen from 1981 to 2007. They are parents to bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, 30. Bertinelli married financial planner Tom Vitale in 2011, with Van Halen and their son in attendance. Bertinelli is a two-time Daytime Emmy winner for Valerie’s Home Cooking, which launched in 2015.

Bertinelli has been open about her weight struggles in the past. Last year, she wrote about her relationship with food in an op-ed for Today. “With the loss of my parents and dealing with other trials life throws our way, I’ve used food as a way not to feel the sadness or the stress. But by eating something away, all it does is make me feel worse about myself,” she wrote. “One of my personal mottos is ‘choose happy.’ But sometimes that choice is really challenging.”